KhunHeineken

"Influential" Thai's will probably be able to negotiate their tax bills. I can't see the same luxury being extended to foreigners.

They want more.

How do you think it will happen, with a particular focus on possible compliance / enforcement, or do you think it will be repealed and just go away? I've put forward some ideas how I think the Thai government MAY try to get this to work, efficiently, or otherwise. Happy to listen to others about what they think will happen.

Once again, I am speaking in general, you are speaking about your personal circumstances. I have posted my plan in a subsequent post. I am merely stating, not everyone is in your position. We all have different circumstances. Of course, we all must do what's financially best for ourselves, or, what we can afford. These tax/s may end up making the decision for many expats for them.

Ok, so some people who stand to lose a considerable amount of money should be "paranoid" and should consider buying a "ticket." Right?

I'm not paranoid. Anything is possible here. Thailand is not a stable country. I haven't bought my ticket yet. I have said in other forums / threads over the years that I rent here, I'm single, I only transfer living expenses each month, I pay an agent for extensions because I don't even want to put 800k into Thailand. I have nothing I couldn't sell at a fire sale (eg. motorbike, home entertainment center) or throw away, donate, or just leave behind, or put in storage, and head straight to the airport, should I ever need or have to. My losses would be minimal. This is by design. I rent a decent condo, and have a good lifestyle here, so my remitted funds means I will be paying some tax. My plan is to stay and see how this all unfolds, not only for myself, but everyone else, early 2025. Thailand can, and probably will get me in 2025, just how, and for much much, I will hang around and see. If the way they implement the system sees me have to pay an amount of tax i am not happy to pay, then my Plan B is 6 months in Vietnam each year. Thailand will only get me once. I understand many expats do not have the freedoms I have, but once again, it is by design. In my opinion, all of this will not go away. Too much money involved. Just how it effects individuals, and whether or not they can afford an annual tax bill and can remain living in Thailand, or if heir tax bill will impact their lifestyle, is up to the individual to self asses. It may be the case that Thailand no longer offers a good value for money lifestyle for many, due to these tax/s.

It would depend on an individual's personal financial circumstances. Stand to lose a little, sit back and laugh at the mess. Stand to lose a considerable amount of money, then one is faced with a more serious decision. Stay, or go, for the year 2024, and possibly only 179 days inside Thailand a calendar year going forward. Everyone has different circumstances.

I see your point. The point I am making is, for those who stand to lose a lot of money, in order to pay no tax at all, and be able to observe how it unfolds, with no exposure to either tax, they should consider vacating Thailand before the 27th June 2024. Basically, spend less than 180 days in Thailand in 2024 and they can't touch you.

It's well documented how these companies manufacture "loss." Massive loans to shell companies in low tax jurisdictions, that are also owned / controlled by themselves. The whole point is, they are wealthy individuals that pay no personal tax, and I have provided some links for this. I am not suggesting anything illegal, just that some of the world's wealthiest people pay little to no personal tax. Happy to read some links showing the contrary.

Well, can you provide some links showing the world's wealthiest actually do pay their fair share? That's personal tax, not company tax.

Very sarcastic, but I appreciate your humor. Those with considerable money to lose, probably should vacate Thailand before the 27th June 2024, in the same way high net worth individuals seek out the cheapest tax jurisdiction for their money, and sometimes for them personally. Eg. Monaco. As for hiring extra staff, it will be more like they contract some IT guys in, or re-task their current IT section to have the data bases in the departments communicate with each other. The immigration data base can be tweaked to calculate the amount of days inside Thailand each calendar year. This would be based on your passport / face / fingerprints entering / exiting Thailand. Just some coding for some geeks. No big deal. Also, probably ramp up their online tax reporting portal for different languages, higher bandwidth, uploading documents etc to cater for foreigners. Yes, like 90 day reporting, it will crash, throw you out, can't register yourself, can't sign in etc etc. They will probably extend from 8th April 2025 the cut off time to cater for foreigners, but ultimately, because they will be turning a baht out of foreigners, they will get something in place. In my opinion, there will be chaos, but after announcement after announcement, I just can't see all of this going away. It tells me they are working on it. Too much easy money involved, either legit, or through "agents." Maybe the best to hope for is the policy is postponed until 1st January 2025.

Just posted on another thread, those who stand to POSSIBLY lose a considerable amount of money should consider leaving before the 27th June, and return on the 1st January. They can then sit back, safe from taxation, and observe how it all unfolds, without being exposed. Depending on what happens early 2025, they can then decide how many days they will stay in Thailand in 2025.

From the first link. "In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011." Bezos did it, twice. "Did not pay a penny" is tax, twice. Do you see a pattern emerging?

They said that about the new cannabis laws as well.

As per Mike The Mod's calculations, the 180 days in Thailand, whereby one will become a tax resident of Thailand, is the 27th June 2024. After that, you are caught in the net. Those who POSSIBLY stand to lose a lot of money in tax, probably should leave Thailand before the 27th June 2024, and return after the 1st January 2025, and then observe what happens to those who have remained the whole time. Everyone has different circumstances, but that famous saying is now also true for the Thai government as well. "Only put into Thailand what you are prepared to lose."

Tracking large transactions, which would include deposits from overseas. Australia tracks every transaction over $10,000.

You will become a tax resident of Thailand after the 27th June 2024, for the calendar year of 2024, provided you haven't traveled outside Thailand from the 1st January until the 27th June.

There's always this option. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/air-india-express-air-hostess-cabin-crew-arrested-gold-smuggling-rectum-hide-2546065-2024-05-31

NEVER say NEVER about anything in Thailand. Things can change individually, or collectively, in the blink of an eye here.

Plenty on the internet about it. These are from a quick Google search. For the Americans. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax "ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing." https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/tax-evasion-by-wealthiest-americans-tops-150-billion-a-year-irs.html https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/23/business/billionaires-global-tax/index.html "Billionaires’ personal tax in the United States is estimated to be close to 0.5% and as low as zero in otherwise high-tax France, the Observatory estimated." For the Australians. https://www.9news.com.au/finance/australia-millionaires-ato-data-rich-people-paying-no-tax/726563bf-9fd7-4da4-ae18-498308aac038 "Sixty-six millionaires earning almost a billion dollars put together paid no tax last year, according to new data from the ATO."

Good luck explaining and proving this, especially as the inheritance earns interest. It will be a bureaucratic nightmare. Like I said, many times, maybe this whole system will not be implemented to the letter of the law. It may just mean paying "something" to the TRD for a document for your extension. It could be as simple as 300 baht like we pay for the Certificate of Residence. For high net worth individuals, they can apply the letter of the law because there's millions to billions of baht involved. We will have to wait and see.

Obviously, they couldn't just force this tax only on retirement visa holders, otherwise most on a retirement visa would move to a different visa, or a combination of visas. It's all about the amount of days spent inside Thailand during a calendar year. Whatever visa/s were used for the stay/s is irrelevant. Basically, one type of visa does not offer any tax free concessions over another type of visa.

I can't see such a system lasting for too much longer. One would have to fly back to the UK just to renew their passport, wouldn't they? How could you apply for a new passport whilst abroad if you have told them you have never left the UK?

More information needed. Is the inheritance inside or outside Thailand? If outside Thailand, will you be remitting the money to Thailand? Are you a tax resident of Thailand? Etc etc. Like I have said, pay the TRD "something" which may or may not be the correct amount of tax, or even pay them 300 baht, no receipt, like the Certificate of Residence, but pay nothing, and you may not get a document from them for your next extension. Many are looking at the exact letter of the law for this policy. Maybe it's not going to work that way. Maybe all they want from most retired expats is just a cash payment for a document, like the Certificate of Residence. We will have to wait and see how this play out. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Spend more than 180 days inside Thailand in a calendar year and you will be deemed a resident of Thailand for tax purposes. One could even rack up 180 days on tourist visas doing visa runs. The type of visa/s used to stay the 180 days is irrelevant.